HelmsBriscoe COO Greg Malark Talks Rebranding

HelmsBriscoe COO Greg Malark came to the events management company 15 years ago. While that would make Malark a lifer at some organizations, he’s a relative newbie at HelmsBriscoe. “We have associates who have worked with the same client for well over a decade, and in some cases 20 years,” he says.

The lack of turnover made the move to HelmsBriscoe an easy sell for Malark after spending most of his career with hotel brands like Promus Hotel Corp. and Doubletree. It’s also the hallmark of a company celebrating its 25th anniversary this year as one of the industry’s leading site-selection agencies.

To mark the occasion, HelmsBriscoe threw a major celebration at its annual business conference in Chicago in April. Before then, the company gave itself an early birthday present: a new logo.

Malark helped lead the rebranding of a group that brings planners and suppliers together for 45,000 events across 100 countries annually. A big change would be out of character for HelmsBriscoe, but something fresh was needed, Malark says.

“The image we wanted to convey was one of stability and consistency, and that we are a modern company,” he says. The new image is cleaner, to subtly visualize how HelmsBriscoe plans to remain atop its game in the virtual world.

As more organizations allow teleworking and have employees stationed across the country and the globe, Malark says the need for HelmsBriscoe and its ilk to facilitate face-to-face meetings becomes greater.

But that doesn’t mean consistency is something Malark witnesses across the board. “We’re seeing a lot more ad hoc behavior,” he says. “Ten years ago, companies had a meetings calendar and executed those calendars year after year.”

As RevPAR rates continue to grow, a result of space availability shrinking, hotels maintain leverage in negotiations, he says. So while many organizations, particularly corporations, are looking short term, Malark says it remains in planners’ best interest to book out as far as possible. Just as with HelmsBriscoe, the more things change, the more they stay the same.